Daniel Crommie Videos

Thursday, December 4, 2014

The Dutch progressive rock online site DPRP has a positive, well-written and informative review of the 2013 DC Sound Collective album "Rotation".

"Musically, the album creates an ethereal ambience as it gently glides along. Variation is given by musical devices such as the clever use of counter melody between the voice and guitar on City Of Industry. It serves to create the necessary degree of disturbance, while the tune never moves above its slow-paced start. Eldon contributes a funky bass throughout, which comes to the fore on the light-fingered instrumental A Jungle Of Apparitions; winding, snake-like around the rhythm, as keys and guitar create the wash of sound above."

"Apophis is certainly the highlight of Rotation and makes the album a worthwhile purchase for lovers of the kind of airy, electric ambience I have attempted to describe."

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Just released at Band Camp - a new compilation of Group Du Jour performances recorded from 1986 - 1993, "Group Du Jour - Live 1986 - 1993" is the first in a series of Official Bootlegs.

From Group Du Jour's performance heyday in Portland, Oregon come these recordings - direct to digital stereo - and featuring songs and improvisations unavailable anywhere else. Guests include saxophonist Michael Maldonado, didgeridoo player Jean George Poulot and Ghanaian master drummer Obo Addy. This official "bootleg" is a high quality document with over an hour of GDJ's unique "techno-ethnic" sound - highlighting their more experimental direction.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

A new instrumental / ambient album "Penumbra - Summer Solstice Sketches" was released on Tuesday, October 21st on iTunes, CD Baby and at Band Camp one month earlier on September 22nd. Read a review here.

The
first long hot day of springtime and molecules are beating faster - rapid
movement from all creatures, plants, insects, animals in the warm draft of air.
The excitement is palpable. Trees grow, leaves reappear, flowers bloom, people
shed their winter clothes and all creation is on the upswing. Rain nourishes
the fecund gardens and a shaft of sunlight slices through the storm clouds,
inciting the streets and sidewalks to steam. Rain returns, sun performs an
encore to the delight of butterflies, birds and worms. The truncated nights are
dewy, with sweetness emanating from blood-red roses wafting in the breeze. As
the sun sets, Robins alight to their nests and thedusky streets are abuzz with restless strollers. The lotus
moon rises, nighttime falls in a hush and leaves rustle awaiting the new days
dawning. Come morn, the first rays emanate from the east and the new season
triumphs with birdsong and distant train horns.

This
project was created spontaneously: conception, composition, recording and
mixing taking place over a ten day period bookending the summer solstice.
Daniel Crommie played all of the instruments, engineered and mixed the album at
Digitalis in June 2014.

Revisionist History

For many a millennia the solstice
arrives - familiar, yet always unique.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Daniel Crommie's 1988 album "Animosity" - an album previously only available on cassette has been released digitally at Band Camp. An experimental collection of works with only one vocal piece (a Medieval one at that...) and featuring synthesizers: "Animosity
is a challenging album and one which it can at times be difficult to stick
with, its stand offishness a real force that can prove overwhelming. Those with
a fascination for 80s electronic that isn't commercial will find much to
engage, those not will feel on the outside looking in, until "Still
Life" reveals its brooding beauty." Read the full review here.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

This month a new interview with Daniel Crommie discussing his latest album "A Silent Sea" and other music-related subjects was published in Turntable Operator. You can order the 'zine for a mere $2 here.

Friday, April 11, 2014

A collection of recordings made between 1976 and 2008 was released at Band Camp on May 27th. Some of these confections were previously made available on cassette EP's and out-of-print albums, but most have not been released before - such as a demo version of Floating in Limbo and Plainsong, a solo dulcimer tune from 1976.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

On March 25th, New Weave released a newly-remixed deluxe edition of Daniel's ground-breaking 1989 album "Precious Time" exclusively at Band Camp. This new remastered edition digitally remixed in January 2014 from the original DBX-encoded cassette portastudio multitrack tapes includes all of the tracks from the original 1989 cassette album, the bonus track from the 1998 CD release, plus an additional previously unreleased track. This is easily the best sounding remaster of this milestone album. Here's a 1990 review: "Crommie’s musical timespan stretches from the middle ages right through a digital sampler into 1990. He plays instruments as diverse as the recorder, the psaltery, the synth, and the dulcimer, and creates gorgeous compositions which utilize medieval sounds alloyed with a new age aesthetic. Your first comparison might be to Mark Isham’s music, although Crommie is more delicate – he doesn’t go in for Isham’s grandiloquence. Crommie’s synthesizers are subtle, creating a sort of dreamy context which allows the acoustic instruments’ voices plenty of room. If you’re into medieval music, you may hear it in a new light on this tape. And if your taste runs to new age, this is a must, a distinct cut above the audio anesthesia you hear from the larger new age labels these days." – John Baxter

"You will not find many intense instrumental workouts here, that's not what Precious Time is about. If, however, you enjoy instrumental music where the pieces flow seamlessly together and the ambience never gets too heavy, Precious Time might warrant further investigation."

Thursday, January 2, 2014

A new album of rarities has been released as a Band Camp exclusive for the low price of $5. PsychedelicMedievalSpaceJazz features eight tracks recorded between 1996-2008 - out-takes from Sargasso Manuscript and Life Rattle including an extended mix of "The Spell is Broken". Much of this was previously released in 2006 as a limited release under the title of PsychedelicMedievalJazz. All instruments: Daniel Crommie except on Distant Train Calling where Jess Fry played percussion samples.

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About Me

Daniel Crommie is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (mandolins, buche, dulcimer, balalaika, recorders, flutes, synthesizers, etc.) and producer who has released over two dozen solo albums, several albums with Group Du Jour, four with Echo System and four with Saturnalia Trio over the last 25 years on the New Weave label. Not content to adhere to any singular flavor or color, Daniel Crommie's musical palette includes forays into medieval, techno-pop, folk, electronic and experimental genres using a wide variety of acoustic and electronic instruments. A founding member of Group Du Jour, Echo System, Continuum and most recently Saturnalia Trio, Daniel's music has been critically hailed as far afield as Yugoslavia, England, Russia and Japan, and has been featured in several French & American films and television documentaries.